Thailand's central bank plans to pilot retail CBDC by year-end

The bank of Thailand is planning to extend its development of a retail central bank digital currency by initiating a pilot study by the end of 2022. A CBDC is designed to represent a digital form of a fiat currency, such as the U.S. dollar, issued by a central bank like the Federal Reserve. The central bank "deems it necessary to extend the scope of Retail CBDC development to a Pilot phase in which real-life application of Retail CBDC will be conducted in cooperation with the private sector within a limited scale," it said in a statement Friday. The BOT noted that it's not planning to issue a retail digital currency, "as the issuance requires thorough consideration of benefits and associated risks for the financial system."In determining whether a retail CBDC would function adequately in Thailand's financial system, the BOT will assess the system's efficiency and safety as well as the technological design, the statement said. This phase of testing will adopt technology developed by Germany's Giesecke+Devrient and is anticipated to start at the end of this year and last until mid-2023. Moreover, the pilot will be focused on testing real-life applications of a retail CBDC, including "conducting cash-like activities, such as paying for goods and services, within limited areas and scale of approximately 10,000 retail users selected by the BOT along with three companies," according to the statement. Meanwhile, South Africa's central bank in July said it'll possibly issue a CBDC.